The Spiritual Disciplines
Matthew 22:35-40 ''' "One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” A Passion for God The Spiritual Disciplines must start with a Passion for God. Not a passion for success, ministry, people, or recognition, but simply a passion for God. This passion for God is very critical, because if we don’t have the passion for God and we do these spiritual disciplines, we will end up in self-righteousness and pride. The following verses speak along the lines of a passion for God. '''Matthew 22:37 *''Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’'' *To love God is passion. To love your neighbor is compassion. Compassion will always flow out of your passion. Psalm 1:1-3 *''Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.'' *A passion for God will result in much fruit. Psalm 42:1 *''As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.'' *We want to be described as "panting for God!" Jeremiah 29:13 *''You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.'' *A whole-hearted pursuit of God leads to relationship. Anything else leads to "religion" and rule keeping. Matthew 7:24-25 *''Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.'' *A foundation for a spiritual root system. Mark 4:20 *''Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.'' *Good soil should produce good roots which should produce abundant fruit. John 15:7-8 *''If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.'' *Much, lasting fruit. Expectations of disciples. Galatians 5:22-23 *''But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.'' *The fruit is lived out in public, but developed in private. No root, no fruit. Galatians 6:9 *''Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.'' *Spend time with God. Hard will reveal itself to be "good." James 1:22-25 *''Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.'' *Because we all need this reminder. James 4:6 *''"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."'' *We do not need to pursue grace. Rather, we need to pursue humility. When we humble ourselves in order to develop the roots, God blesses with abundant grace. Reading God's word Cover to cover. God is going to ask you what you thought of his book! Back in Elementary school we used to say, "What you eat is what you are!" Then I graduated into High School and learned about GIGO - "Garbage in, garbage out." Then I grew up and found out that companies were spending millions of dollars on advertising, trying to influence me to partake in their products. And over time I came to realize that indeed I am a product of my surroundings. And those words from Elementary School came back as words of prophecy, for indeed each one of us will become what we dwell on, what we spend time with. Galatians 5:1 says, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." This is a fantastic verse with many applications, one of which is that internal desire that we all have for FREEDOM. Movie makers know this, and capatilize on the theme over and over. Something inside us just yearns for freedom! Then the verse goes on to say, "stand firm." Great advice - but if you do not know exactly HOW to stand firm, the advice comes as somewhat of a letdown. But God's Word goes on to tell us in 2 Peter 2:19 Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his.” From here we learn that "standing firm" has to do with a solid foundation. And a solid foundation sounds a lot like a strong root system! And so we learn that Reading God's Word is a root in the tree of our life, and that through reading we will be strengthening our foundation - enabling ourselves to stand firm and never be slaves again. From "friends," to pictures to slogans to jingles in commercials, we are constantly bombarded by others trying to determine what our foundation will be. In choosing to pursue the discipline of Reading God's Word, we stop allowing others to influlence us, and instead choose to humble ourselves before God and let Him influence us. With God's Word readily available today (www.BibleGateway.com ) we are without excuse for not investing into this spiritual discipline. However, from what we know about human nature, it is all to easy to come up with an excuse. This is exactly why in Kairos we encourage Chronos Groups. These groups are designed around the disciplines of Reading and Intercession. They will give you the accountability you need in the midst of your busy schedules to continue to build your foundation. Remember that being in a Chronos Group is not about being right or wrong, better or worse than anyone else. Chronos Groups are merely a way to help with the accountability to follow through with those things that are important to us. If you are just not at a place where Chronos Groups are a possibility, then of course you can read on your own. Ask God for help, and get a friend to check in on you to give you the accountability to be faithful in pursuing this discipline. Need some help with a practical guide for Reading God's Word? *Take a few minutes to get in the right setting. No distractions, only music that will enhance your time with God, etc. Then pray and ask God to guide you in what you read. *Decide on what to read, either an entire book of the New Testament or at least a couple of chapters from a book. If you choose a smaller section, plan to read through it more than once. *Pray again. Ask God to clear your mind of distractions and to guide you into all truth. *Begin reading, with pen and paper close by. Pause whenever necessary to write down notes, thoughts, key words and verses that stood out to you. Do NOT stop and focus on these thoughts, but plan to return to them later in a time of Studying God's Word. *When finished, pray again. Ask God to clarify for you what you have been hearing from Him. Write it down, you will want to return to that when you are spending time Meditating on God's Word. Thank God for revealing truth to you. Studying God’s Word Find some depth in it. Allows us to understand what truth is and to make application. 2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. Psalm 119:130 The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. 1 - Start with prayer. For understanding, for Truth to be revealed, for no distractions, for God to lead you to the best questions to ask, and then to the right answers. Pray for the Holy Spirit to guide the entire process. 2 – What will you study? Study is designed for small sections of Scripture. You could study your way through a book of the Bible, but you would do it piece by piece. For this example we will study John 3:1-21 , specifically verse 5. John 3:5 Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 3 – Footnotes. A good “Study Bible” is going to be critical for this discipline. The footnotes are usually where the translators are telling you that there is some level of confusion about how the original writing could be translated. The footnotes from what we are studying are these: *a. John 3:3 Or born from above; also in verse 7 *b. John 3:6 Or but spirit *c. John 3:7 The Greek is plural. *d. John 3:13 Some manuscripts Man, who is in heaven *e. John 3:15 Or believes may have eternal life in him *f. John 3:16 Or his only begotten Son *g. John 3:18 Or God’s only begotten Son *h. John 3:21 Some interpreters end the quotation after verse 15. 4 - Cross references. Again, your Study Bible saves the day. These are usually found down the middle of the page. Look for the superscripts and match them to the middle of the page to find new verses that connect to the one you are studying. For John 3:5 we find these two cross references – verses that the translators think connect back to this topic: *Acts 22:16 And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name. *Titus 3:5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit 5 – Study Bible notes. The section at the bottom of the page can be a huge help in getting started with your study. Not only will it give you some initial ideas, but what it doesn’t say can also help you to not spend time researching ideas that are probably not critical to the conversation. John 3:5 kingdom of God. See note on Mt 3:2. born of water and the Spirit. A phrase understood in various ways: 1. It means much the same as “born of the Spirit” (v. 8; cf. Tit 3:5). 2. Water here refers to purification. 3. Water here refers to baptism – that of John (1:31) or that of Jesus and his disciples (v. 22; 4:1-2.) 6 – Subject index, sometimes called a Topical index. Used to find other verses that deal with the same “theme” that you are researching. For instance, although John 3:5 does not use the word “baptism,” that is something that we want to study in connection to this verse. Perhaps we will find other references that will help us to understand more. http://www.bible-topics.com/Baptism.html 7 – Concordance. This is when we simply want to find all of the same word in Scripture. Searching on the word “water” (and you can limit the search the whatever books you want) will take us to a list that will hopefully give us a better idea of the context of “water.” http://www.biblegateway.com/keyword/ 8 – Bible maps. Sometimes very useful, sometimes not so much! This link has a great interactive google map which will show you where you are at geographically based on any chapter of the Bible, plus give you some great notes as well. http://biblemap.org/ 9 – Strong’s #’s. Each original Greek and Hebrew word has a # associated with it. The original King James has versions out there where the #’s are included in the text, so that you can easily find the actual Greek word. Knowing the word can help you as you study the possible meanings of that word. This is why we have different translations – some think that some definitions of the Greek words better explain the verse than other definitions. Now you can see for yourself why it’s all so difficult! http://www.biblestudytools.com/kjv/john/3.html 10 – Additional resources. Commentaries, e-books, dictionaries, and more! http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/ Seeing that Biblical Application is one of our Core Values – I encourage you to jump in! May this be a life long adventure of learning and application. Memorizing God’s Word Make sure you come back and review. We memorize lots of things, let's make sure that some of our energy goes into memorizing God's word. One big reason for memorization is for the purpose of meditating. Two of the BIGGEST ingredients to make memorization happen: Desire and Reminders! *Listen to the passage again and again *Read it aloud *Recite one verse completely before going to the next *Partnership memorization *Flashcards *“Remember Me” app Benefits of Memorization *“Giving an answer for the hope” – I Peter 3:15 *Know God’s heart – II Peter 3:18 *Weapon for the Holy Spirit’s Use – II Cor 10:5 *Pray Scripture – Matthew 4:4,7,10 *Something to focus on – Philippians 4:8 Where are you going to start? Meditating on God’s Word What you focus on affects where you go. Keep your focus on God. Joshua 1:8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Any quick Youtube search will reveal that the are many different perspectives on what meditation is (or isn't!). Further review of meditation leads one to conclude that it is for the purpose of "emptying oneself" and/or "filling oneself with cosmic power." Meditating on the Word of God has a very different purpose: As we fill our stomachs with physical food, so we fill our minds with spiritual food. The Hebrew word for meditate has the idea to “murmur or mutter.” As a cow chews it’s cud, so we take God’s word and “murmur” it over and over. It becomes our food, our spiritual nourishment. *Matthew 4:4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” *Jeremiah 15:16 When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God Almighty. *John 6: 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. *Job 23:12 I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread. What happens as we spend more time with something? *Coffee starts to taste good. *Broccoli starts to taste not so bad! *We become more like our friends (for good or bad). *God's word has more and more of an impact on our lives. The goal of Christian meditation is to internalize and personalize the Scripture so that its truth can affect how we think, our attitudes, and how we live, our actions. How To Meditate *Read / Reflect Reverently: Be ever mindful that you are reading the Word of God. The Bible is God breathed and each word and sentence has a purpose and function. This means reading deliberately, slowly, and alertly, not mechanically or legalistically. *Read / Reflect Prayerfully: Trust the Spirit of God to open up your eyes and heart to see, understand, and respond to the Word. Read as the Psalmist who prayed: “Open my eyes that I may behold wonderful things from Thy law” (Ps. 119:18 ). *Read / Reflect Repeatedly: Go over and over the passage to observe more and more, knowing that you do not exhaust the meaning of any verse even when it becomes familiar and you think you know it. There are always new observations to be seen or mined as a miner searches for silver or gold. *Read / Reflect Creatively: Visualize yourself in the time, history, and situation of the passage as much as possible to experience a feel for what the author and the people of his day were experiencing. *Read / Reflect with a pencil! This will help you observe and later seek answers to your questions. “A pencil is the crow bar of the mind and understanding.” *Read / Reflect to Understand: Purposely make observations of the text that will help you understand its meaning. This means asking questions like “who, what, when, where, why, and how.” Results of Meditation *Success – Joshua 1:8 *Prosper – Psalm 1:2-3 *Restores my soul – Psalm 19:7 *Wisdom – Psalm 119:98 *Insight – Psalm 119:99 *Joy – Jeremiah 15:16 *Blessing – James 1:25 Knowing that you don't want to miss out on all these good things --- It's time to meditate on God's Word! Prayer of Petition Asking God requests on your own behalf. This Discipline would also include confession and repentance. The more we love God, the quicker we will respond to the Holy Spirit. Petition: Appeal, Formally request, Lobby, Request, Beg, Implore, Plead, Ask 1. A written request signed by many people demanding a particular action from an authority or government Here's a sample as long as the link is still good.... http://www.ijm.org/content/sign-your-name-stand-for-freedom 2. An appeal or request to a higher authority or being. Ever heard a kid ask for something? What are some things that you asked for today? Discussion point - how do you respond to this quote? “Whether you petition God or not probably says a lot about your understanding of and belief in God.” Bible verses on "petition." "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! ~Matt 7:7-11 (NIV) Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ~Phil 4:6 (NIV) After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. ~John 17:1-5 (NIV) Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” ~Matthew 26:39 (NIV) Ideas for exploring petitions: 1 - Repetition. Luke 18:9-14 (Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.) It’s the "Jesus Prayer." It’s a way to stay in constant prayer throughout the day. 2 - Study the Petitions. Then Jacob prayed, "O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O LORD, who said to me, 'Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,' I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two groups. Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. ~Gen 32:9-11 (NIV) What is the content? What is the prayer about? What is the form? How does Jacob approach his request? 3 - Speak the Petitions. Put them in your own words. *For help, for cleanness Mt 8:2 *For help, for rescue or deliverance Mt 8:25 *For help, for mercy, for healing Mt 9:27 *For healing Mk 5:23 *Deliverance from evil spirit Mk 9:17 *Unity Ro 15:5 *Hope Ro 15:13 *Knowledge of God’s will Col 1:9-12 *Comfort 2 Thes 2:16-17 *Peace 2 Thes 3:16 Application: Start your morning off by taking a couple of minutes to think about the day ahead. What will you be dealing with? Where will you need help? Where might spiritual attacks come from? Write down a word or two that describes your situation, then use those words as a starting point for a petition for God to help you. Prayer of Intercession This is where we take other peoples requests to God on their behalf, interceding for them. I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone-- for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 1 Tim 2:1-2 The following verses are some examples of praying for others. They give some great ideas of themes to be praying for each other..... 13 Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise.14 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. James 5:13-16 1 Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you.2 And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith. 2 Thess 3:1-2 I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. Philemon 1:6 3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Col 4:3-4 Your turn! Spend some time on your own looking up examples of prayer. Search for stories where someone prays for someone else, or do a search on the word "pray" in the New Testament. Take time to highlight or mark those verses so that you can find them again - they make great guides for when you pray for others! Finally, don't forget the lesson that this parable teaches us, from Luke 18. 1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ 4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!’” 6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” Listening to God The God that spoke this world into existence has something to say to you. Prayer includes listening. Listening works best with a pen and paper. Fasting Fasting: As prayer gives direction, so fasting gives power. However, we can be so addicted to ourselves that we have trouble fasting, trouble dealing with discomfort. How well equipped are you to endure suffering? What would it take for you to be able to grow in this area? In Revelation 2:10 we are told, "Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer." In Matthew 16:24 Jesus says to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." In fact, the New Testament is full of exhortations to endure suffering. Let's use this as a definition for fasting and go from there: Giving up something good, in order to have something better! As fasting involves self-denial, and as it is apparent that most of us are not so good at that, it would seem that fasting could be a great tool for us to use to learn more about enduring suffering and being able to follow closer after Jesus. Often we are told that "suffering is a bad thing" and a "good" God would not allow that. But James tells us, James 1:2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. It would seem that James' perspective was that "good" comes from "suffering." Just as the suffering caused by exercise and exertion leads to healthier, stronger bodies - so did James understand that suffering produced a level of maturity that cannot be attained in other ways. Lest we forget, Let me remind you of one of my favorite verses: '' 2 Timothy 1:7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. '' Oh how we love to remember that the Holy Spirit has power and love for us! But how quickly we forget that the Spirit also offers us discipline! We can choose to deny ourselves and say "no." - But will we rely on the Spirit or not? And just for some context, don't forget the next verse: 2 Timothy 1:8 So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God As we choose to join Jesus (and Paul!) in their suffering, God provides his Spirit to help us through. But to never train, to never prepare for suffering, can easily leave one in a place of not even being ready to look to God when the challenges and temptation of life come along. So why wait? Begin training today, and be prepared for the suffering that God promises will come our way! Here are a few verses to give you more to think about as you process through this topic of fasting. Matthew 6:16-18 Matthew 9:14-17 Luke 18:9-14 Isaiah 58 Zechariah 7 While this lesson has not dealt with any practical tips on fasting, I trust that as you have the desire to prepare yourself, you will take the steps to educate yourself on how to fast in a healthy (physically and spiritually) way. God bless your training! Personal Worship This is where you and I attribute worth to God on an individual basis. The idea is, “How do we attribute worth to God?” God is looking for worshippers. Conclusion Be a person who purposes to pursue God. (Credit to Dean Trune, Impact Ministries, for the material and direction in setting Kairos on a good path.)